Proof our students are not being taught properly

Miranda Devine

–,
Wednesday,
December,
12,
2012,(9:04am)

The poor results of Australian primary students in an international reading skills study are a disgrace. But it’s not all about “resources”, despite what teacher unions, the Gonski review and the federal minister Peter Garrett keep saying.

PRIMARY students have a “substantial problem” in reading, with 25 per cent failing to meet the minimum standard for their age in international tests, while maths and science skills in primary and high school have stagnated over the past 16 years.

In the first international test of primary students, Australian year 4 students scored the lowest of the English-speaking nations in reading, ranked 27th out of 48 countries tested, comparable to Bulgaria, Slovenia and Lithuania.

...

“To say the results are disappointing is an understatement,” said Geoff Masters, chief executive of the Australian Council for Educational Research, which performed the testing in Australia.

It is the first time Australian primary school students’ reading skills have been benchmarked internationally. The ranking is significantly worse than Australian high school students’ reading levels.

The 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) measured year four reading standards in 45 countries. Australia ranked 27th and placed at a substantially lower level than 21 countries including the US, England, Canada, Portugal and Bulgaria. Twenty-four per cent of year four students did not meet the study’s “intermediate benchmark,” which is regarded as the minimal acceptable standard of literacy.

A companion report, the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) found that Australian year four students perform below those in most developed countries, ranking 25th in science, and considerably below 18 countries. Australia ranked 18th in maths.

The National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy (I was on the committee) in 2005 identified the problems and mapped out the solution, according to evidence-based research.

It is no secret how children learn to read.

Early, systematic, direct and explicit instruction in phonics is necessary if a child is to learn to read properly, though not the only factor. Teacher quality is crucial. And increasing evidence suggests pre-school intervention is needed for socially disadvantaged children whose vocabulary is not being developed at home.

Yet all we hear about from the government is Gonski Gonski Gonski, as if the Gonski review recommendations of $5 billion more a year for smaller classes and more specialist teachers is the answer.

Australian school spending grew 44% from 2000-09, far more than the OECD average, yet our students’ reading and maths scores plummeted over that period. They were thrashed by students in larger classes in countries which spent far less.

NSW alone has already spent more than $700 million on shrinking classes in the first three years of school, and look at the results.

As I wrote in July, our average class size is 23, yet in reading and science our students are one to two years behind their peers in Shanghai, where the average class size is 40, according to a report by the Grattan Institute, and we’re more than two years behind in maths.

Now when the chickens are coming home to roost, the education establishment wants to waste more taxpayer money on more strategies that don’t work.

Have Your Say

I bet Australian kids would come first in the world for being able to rattle off all their country’s “failings” now & in the past. i.e. sexism, racism, homophophia, boatpeople, electing Liberal Govts etc.

It is no coincidence the worst Governments in Australia’s history are all Labor Governments aka Socialist/Marxist Progressive Governments.
The Whitlam Fed Labor disaster
The Kirner Labor disaster in Vic
The Bourke Labor disaster in WA
The Carr/Iemma/Ress/Kinneally In Nsw
The Bligh Labor disaster in QLD
The Rudd dud Fed. Labor disaster and ofcourse the worst of the worst the Juliar Fed. Labor disaster
Then there is the SA Labor disaster that bankrupted SA a decade or so ago and other disatsrous Labor Governments take up the next few places.
Yes it is no coincidence that under a Socialist/Marxist Progressive Government Sexism, racism, homophobia, boatpeople and disastrous Governments become the norm. What a mess society is now in all because so many gullible sheeple were so easily conned and voted for the disease called progressivism. Its a National disgrace what the Socialist/Marxist Progressives have done to this country but what they have done to the Education system alone is beyond a disgrace.
Kids taught their rights not responsibilties, brain washed with extremist political propaganda like the global warming scam as well as the dumbing down of the education system where kids now leave school unable to read and write and the loonies solution to this problem is to throw more and more money at it but that is not the fundamental problem, extremist political BS is.

annieg 3021 replied to TR
Wed 12 Dec 12 (08:04pm)

TR you forgot the most important “ MISOGYNIST”

Gordo replied to TR
Wed 12 Dec 12 (09:11pm)

I think you meant “Labor Governments” didn’t you.

Edward James replied to TR
Thu 13 Dec 12 (07:36pm)

Taxpayers educated or not. Know your political allsorts because they are the ones you permit to spend your money, in ways which please them. Edward James

Pete replied to TR
Sat 15 Dec 12 (12:19am)

Regarding Peter B’s ‘comment:

“"Never argue with a fool”

Peter B replied to TR
Sun 16 Dec 12 (06:31am)

Yes pete Labor Governments are the best, Left wing political brain washing and abuse of children does not go on in the Education system and the global warming scam is not a scam and there is no such thing as Socialist/Marxist Progressivism.
It is obvious who the fool is. Actually I’m surprised you can still see the computer with all that egg on your face.

A few years ago I had casual staff working for me, one of whom was studying to be a primary school teacher. He was in his final year, and had been for some time as he had already failed the primary level maths test 3 times.

He finally managed to scrape through with barely passing marks on his fourth attempt and merrily went off to take up a teaching position.

How does someone get through high school and to their final teachers exam and still not have a basic understanding of primary school level maths?

On another note, the guy had a shocking work ethic as well as light fingers and I was glad to see the back of him.

Friends in the teaching profession all tell the same stories about how the system is failing. There seems to be such emphasis on paperwork being done that there isn’t enough time to actually teach. Also, as pointed out by the Realist, teachers are getting through without basic maths and English skills. How can they lift standards if they don’t have any ? What is now happening is the result of bad policies in the past . Once the older teachers retire there won’t be much talent left, and that is before we address the increasing numbers of non English speaking children. What a mess !!

Noddy replied to The Realist
Wed 12 Dec 12 (10:36pm)

Could his work ethic have anything to do with him needing to “pay the rent” until his preferred carreer kicked in?

Noddy replied to The Realist
Wed 12 Dec 12 (10:36pm)

Could his work ethic have anything to do with him needing to “pay the rent” until his preferred carreer kicked in?

The Realist replied to The Realist
Fri 14 Dec 12 (01:09pm)

Noddy, say what? You mean having a shocking work ethic was somehow his idea of helping to pay the rent?

When he passed his exam finally I went to his house to drop off his final pay packet. It was then I discovered his kitchen outfitted from our restaurant. I made him return all the stuff but really I should have just called in the cops, it may have saved some children from having to labour under his tutelage.

Noddy replied to The Realist
Sat 15 Dec 12 (05:47am)

Say what? the guy wants to be a teacher, right? In order to fund his study and “pay the rent” he takes a job, any job. Maybe he doesn’t like the job, the people, the hours, the conditions or rates of pay, whatever, the point is the JOB is his stepping stone towards something better. Most people who feel forced to do something they don’t want to do may actually show signs of malaise (particularly teenagers and young adults).

The alleged theft is another matter entirely (although when i had worked in kitchens one of the perks was free food).

I had a recent experience with a primary teacher that says it all. Concerned about a 7 year old grandchild’s inability to read at all, especially in view of a family history of dyslexia I approached the teacher concerned and asked if she had any concerns about my grandchild’s reading (or lack of) The answer stunned me. No concerns at all, says the teacher. Said child just loves learning and is trying very hard to read!
I have personally taken it upon myself to teach my grandchild to read but how many parents are taken in by this modern approach, that results don’t matter as long as the child tries hard and is happy?
If this is the prevelant attitude I’m surprised we didn’t come in even further down the list of countries.
It appears ability has gone the same way as phonics. Deemed irrelevant.

When my son was 7 he also had a Problem with reading and we also approched the school about this and asked what can be done.

They said they can’t help with english but they can help with another language.
I was in shock that a so called teacher could say something so crazy but that is sadly whats happened to the education system under the sinister anti Australian Socialist/Marxist Progressives.The lunatics are now running the asylum and we fail as a Nation if we allow these extremist freaks to continue to ruin the lives of so many of our youth.
What a mess.

Noddy replied to Big Nana
Wed 12 Dec 12 (11:36pm)

It is about time parents, carers, concerned family members and adults started to take an active interest in childrens learning. Teachers are not surrogate parents and do not have the time to focus upon and develop each individual childs needs, If you want the best education for your kids you must get involved, support the teachers and school, encourage sensible homework and study activities AND if possible give them access to more advanced work as a challenge.

As with medicine we often expect the professionals to work miracles without actually accepting the need to be part of the process.

Paleocon replied to Big Nana
Thu 13 Dec 12 (10:27am)

Big Nana I am still in contact with my prep teacher from 52 years ago,she told me that schooling went backwards when they stopped pronouncing c-a-t spells cat,nowdays it is cee ay tee,kids can’t visualise the words.
The old way of teaching came down through the tests of time,excellence was the bench mark not the lowest common denomiator being the bench mark.I went to a little country school where nearly every family was poor but when we finished primary school we could all read and write,we could count,we all knew the times table,we could work out the volume of a tank or the area of a paddock or the height of a tree.
The thing is that modern people think that modern is the best and they try and build a new mouse trap.
We knew “My Country “and “The Pioneers “off by heart,we knew about the First Fleet and all the explorers etc,we didn’t have political correctness to hide the facts of life.
.
Even though I went on to High School I had aready had enough education to get by in life when I left Primary,I couldn’t say that about todays kids.

Peter B replied to Big Nana
Sat 15 Dec 12 (06:40am)

Ofcourse Noddy thats why we were concerned and took action. Thanks for mentioning the blatant obvious.
Whats next your going to tell us the sky is blue on a sunny, cloudless day or that this disastrous Labor Government is the worst in Australia’s history ?
Could you tell us something we don’t know for a change ?

Noddy replied to Big Nana
Sat 15 Dec 12 (11:00pm)

Wasn’t directing comment at you petrovb but since you persist i will reply.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Whatever edukashun you ended up with it is fair to say that that is what your progeny will achieve (unless the milkmans involved).

Stating the bleeding obvious is unfortunately required when the moronic blame game is being played by you. Let me guess its all labors fault and ifphoney tony was in the lodge your childrens test results would automatically improve over night?

At this stage petrovb you are an unmitigated fool. Good luck to you and your family

Peter B replied to Big Nana
Mon 17 Dec 12 (07:17am)

Wow Noddy you are even dumber than I thought. One day you may finally wake up but i doubt it.

I think a large percentage of teachers are unsuitable or lack development or skills for teaching and it shows. This is compouned to a large degree by modern attitudes to discipline, hard work, the welfare state of expectation of something for nothing and lack of parental interest. It is mainly a community attitude issue not only for governments and I do not believe dollars/rources is the issue. Education right through from primary to University is over funded and inefficient. I think Gonski took the easy way out for blame and guilt purposes.

Over 80% of the education budget is taken home in the pockets of concerned proffesionals who have a passion for education and a vocation to make a `difference’. If you believe that then youre probably dumb enough to “believe” in climate change. Oh I Forgot ,I meant DANGEROUS climate change.

Justa comment replied to Justa comment
Sat 15 Dec 12 (02:10pm)

To Wingnut. Your 80% is a gross exaggeration. I have been involved in the school and tertiary system for decades. Yes, there is a majority of dedicated professional teachers or lecturers but I have witnessed lecturers years out of date with the standards or legislation in the areas they are teaching, and some teachers that really had little interest in the kids and are very average and a number that look at the teaching role as just a job. And in terms of you calling me dumb, no I don’t believe in man made global warming with CO2 as the sole culprit as there is little evidence to support this theory. And thank you for supporting my view on the lack of skills in teaching etc as evidenced at the teaching profession that is spruiking man made climate change and man made global warming on little or no empirical data, so they must be dumb by your definition. End story.

Miranda, the minister for dingo day care will soon fix it all, because his pm will provide him with the required vote buying funds (staged over a three year period of course) & in any case his pm has amazingly stumbled across an issue that has been bubbling away in Australia for quite a few years, but will now represent the ideal issue to hi-lite the supposed differences between the lazy vote buying ALP & that other mob that she is reluctant to voice the name of. The issue of ‘female genital mutilation’ being clung to amongst that section of the community
the ALP has recently been buying the votes of presents no contradictions at all because it is being raised by the ALP.

Teachers are poorly educated. I have come across teachers whose spelling is atrocious. Next, the teachers refuse to load up the kids; to push them along. Many state primary school 6 graders can barely read. The entire system reeks of sloth and a refusal to recognize the need to push the individual along. It is amazing what kids can accomplish when motivated.

The next tier in this failing system is drop kick parents who would rather watch TV, play on the computer, or socialise, rather than spend time inculcating into their kids a natural desire to read and to be curious.

Miranda the rot set in spelling and reading more than 30 years ago where kids at school were taught to spell the way they said it, obviously hasn’t got any better. When I was young spelling was a big thing spelling Bee’s every day, 12 Xtimes tables for arithmatic, essay writing and marked on your spelling.
Also at exam time if you got lower than 50%, you did the year again, try telling that to your parents back then.

I received my daughter’s end of year report the other day and it told me next to nothing. Why? Because it was completely geared toward comparisons against the national standards. I don’t care if she’s doing better or worse than some arbitrary national benchmark; I want to know what her attitude is to learning, if she’s developing good communication and teamwork
skills, is she thinking creatively and logically, can she read and comprehend basic texts etc. all this focus on how we comate to other countries is fuelled purely by ego and the corporate anxiety - they don’t want their profits to suffer because schools haven’t produced the perfect worker of the future. I say let’s take the focus off testing before we produce a nation of clones.

What does one expect with a bloated education public sector, teachers being the parents and a ego driven and inefficent union peddling the same mantra....more money....more holidays.......more money. They have no idea. Hell lets have another pupil free day

I would be interested to see some direct comparison between Private schools and Public schools. I don’t think left wing ideology replaces reading and writing when you’re paying $20,000 pear year in fees.

If you want to see real comparisons check out how well home schooled kids do, generally lots of them in the top 10%.

Weary replied to Mighty Righty
Fri 14 Dec 12 (03:17pm)

@ Mighty Right - yeah, when it comes to being a socially maladjusted, homeschooled kids are always in the top 10%.

Teachers like journolists put thier leftist activist bent before the proffesion,there are plenty of leftard activists almost ready to leave uni and go out and leftardise thier place of employment,like winged ants ready to start a new colony of termites. Every single public facility schools,uni,s,hospitals,legal system,even science all have bad bad leftard infestations.

Unionized teaching will never get the level of teaching back to where it once was and should be.

Paying high salaries for mediocrity in teaching, because under our current socialist system every teachers ability to teach is considered equal, which is plainly not the case, is putting our children at risk of failure.

And centralizing education via a controlling Federal Government has been a huge mistake that the states should have fought against. Let the states get control again of education and every shire within the state have a responsible education board that oversees the hiring and firing of teachers. No teachers should be employed on union recommendation and bad teachers need to terminated.

One thing that is almost never mentioned is the fact that teaching is the easiest course to get into at Uni, with the result that schools are being swamped by 1000s of young teachers who lack the basic academic and personal qualities required for effective teaching.

Once again we see the union doing its best work. This time the unions control the teaching element. We don’t want to see a bunch of literate, informed, able to rationalise, union members do their sums and draw their own conclusions.
No, no, no, best to keep them like beasts of burden, capable only of earning barely enough to pay their membership dues and place an X in the pre-designated ballot box.
These students’ parents did not take the opportunity to get educated when they attended school, now, like their parents, they are happy to sit around and wait for the welfare system to provide. This ethos is now the example these children will follow for life and pass on to their offspring.
Any teacher willing to risk the cavalcade of litigating leftist organisations by insisting the children put some effort into their studies, do their homework and crawl out of the oppressive and dependant welfare system through becoming educated will find him/herself ostracised, and quickly.
We, as a nation, slide slowly into the abyss.

Are you mocking my fruity dislexia pedey boy?that is very unleftard of you.

The EDUCATION REVOLUTION is just another failed policy of this Labour Federal Government. Thank you Ms Gillard.

More time is spent on student free days than learning the basics. This country will be known as the Dumb whites of Asia if we dont’ pull up our socks.

The future is all about competing with the rest of the worrld and the sooner we stop pretending and appeasing the fuzzy feel good don’t hurt their feeling style of teaching we will continue to slide towards the bottom of the world and not just geographically.

How to improve our education system by at least 400% and also save a lot of money.
Dump the Gonsky report.
As it’s all about the quality of the teachers :
• Take note of the world’s best practice.
• Add at least one year to all teacher training courses which must be entirely devoted to numeracy and literacy. No one is to be allowed to graduate unless they achieve at least an 85% pass mark in both. The entry qualification for teacher training must be raised substantially. This will cause an immediate teacher shortage which can be mitigated by allowing much older people who are in reasonable health and can pass the above tests to be allowed to achieve teacher status without the need to do a training course. This waste of talent and experience has proven to be obvious when one witnesses their superior control skills while supervising children.
• Have years one and two chant their times tables for five minutes first thing every morning. Then have them chant spelling lists for ten minutes after every lunch break. Chanting, apart from being a most effective learning tool, is a great social leveler, because it gives children from dysfunctional and negligent families a much needed improved self confidence and ambition when they realize what they can achieve. I have personally witnessed this.
• Bring back dictation into literacy lessons and don’t be afraid to use the red correction pen.
• Conduct tests every week and remedy errors. How else can teachers know how their students are progressing?
• Most home work is used as a catch up tactic for time that is wasted in the classroom. It unfairly disadvantages children who for various reasons, are unable or discouraged from doing it at home.
• Stop this non sense of insulting children’s intelligence by telling them that they have passed when they have failed.
• Remember, a good primary school education generally dictates how most of us fare for the rest of our lives. It can even overcome any damage that is caused by the most hopeless of secondary school teachers.
• Save many millions of dollars by patching up old classrooms. If heating and cooling is a problem, just put in air conditioners that are purchased directly from local retailers. Don’t forget the set top box disasters. Keep politicians out of it.

It is no secret that the failure of our education system is caused by:

- bad parenting (thanks to the burgeoning underclass our welfare and immigration policies have given us);
- leftist teachers (who want to brainwash students about global warming and foment hatred of Anglo-Celtic Australia);
- no discipline in schools (the worst elements disrupt classes with impunity);
- not requiring students to meet goals; and
- a woeful curriculum (designed by leftists who hate our society and want to create generations of socially destructive, unemployable juveniles).

Labor’s strategy is to market itself as the ‘party of education’ and of course the Liberal state premiers (useless as they all are for failing to undo the Left’s social agenda in their states) have obliged by making high-profile cuts to education spending. As part of Labor’s campaign to market itself as the ‘party of education’ they arranged for a recommendation that we spend (pick a figure, any figure - it doesn’t really matter) $5 billion more to bring us up to the standard of other countries in Asia (which, incidentally, mostly spend less per capita than us but get better results, because their education systems are not run by hate driven leftists wanting to take revenge on society by poisoning children’s minds and ruining their lives).

Since the politicians, bureaucrats and teachers must know all of this, you have to ask yourself what sort of evil, sick, hateful people are running our country and our education system that they would:
- deliberately harm children and ruin their lives; and
- invent an education program (one that will not improve education, because it does not address the problems listed above) solely for the purpose of buying a few headlines to try to win the next election.

The last point needs to be emphasised. It is within their power to fix the education system, but they have DELIBERATELY chosen not to (because they want it to be this way). Instead they have DELIBERATELY sought to deceive people into believing they will fix the system with their new program, yet they know full well that it will not fix it. Think hard about this and you will begin to appreciate that these people are no different to the psychopaths we occasionally see in the corporate world who set up investment funds for the sole purpose of stealing from unsuspecting investors.

Poorly educated people don’t complain about government. They’re too stupid to understand and they don’t care. So why do you think the left are leaving education to rot, happily slashing the education budget despite the recommendations of the Gonski report? Or are you already too stupid to join the dots?
Stupid people don’t ask why welfare payments to single mothers were massively reduced by a “progressive feminist” who “supports Aussie battlers”. They’re too stupid to realise that single mothers are women and presumably have too much disposable income. Stupid people just see a woman leader and jump around claiming victory in some gender war they’re too stupid to realise isn’t actually happenning.
But the single mothers don’t celebrate. With no money, how can they? They just stay at the women’s shelter, counting their blessings that a progressive feminist has their back.

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